“The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.” –G. K. Chesterton

Ah, the good old days, the days of rigid, god-given hierarchy and hereditary privilege. How we long for their return … some of us. Then again, how the hell can we miss them if they never go away? Personally, I just hate reruns. And for most folks, I doubt that feudalism was all that great the first time around. Even before the Black Death.

Just read somewhere the old line that “Even a dog knows the difference between being accidentally tripped over and being kicked”. If so, dogs are way ahead of too many humans. The rich and powerful repeatedly, deliberately, kick and spit on us, rape and rob us, leave us for dead, then blame us for being in their way and making it necessary for them to do it. Then they expect us to like it — as too many seem to. PTSD must be a real bitch. But of course, if we wag our tails, whine pathetically, grovel at their feet, lick their asses, and beg them nicely … maybe they can forgive us our trespasses, because that’s just the kind of magnanimous, compassionate, superior beings they are. What would we evver do without them. How great they art!

And boy we’d sure hate to see that poor, persecuted 1% disappear, as worried billionaire Tom Perkins seems to fear the unfair, horrible, outrageous, clearly immoral tax burden they bravely bear might bring about, as quoted in a CNNMoney article. I mean, they’re so cute and cuddly, so endearing and lovable. They think. An endangered species? Don’t I wish. Call me crazy, but as far as I’m concerned, every damned one of them can head for Dante’s fourth circle of Hell, the section reserved for “The Hoarders and the Wasters” ASAP. And if any of them need a little help getting there … Well, I’m not sure that would be any problem. Meanwhile, I think it’s way past time I took a refresher course in knitting. And guillotine maintenance.

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Tom Perkins: Rich Should Get More Votes
By scarce February 14, 2014 5:19 am
Venture Capitalist and billionaire Tom Perkins suggested Thursday that only taxpayers should have the right to vote — and that wealthy Americans who pay more in taxes should get more votes.

More trolling from the man who coined the obnoxious term “the war on the 1%”. Last month Perkins compared this “war ” on the wealthy to a wave of Nazi attacks on Jews ahead of the Holocaust.
via CNN Money
Tom Perkins suggested Thursday that only taxpayers should have the right to vote — and that wealthy Americans who pay more in taxes should get more votes.
The venture capitalist offered the unorthodox proposal when asked to name one idea that would “change the world” at a speaking engagement in San Francisco moderated by Fortune’s Adam Lashinsky.
“The Tom Perkins system is: You don’t get to vote unless you pay a dollar of taxes,” Perkins said.
“But what I really think is, it should be like a corporation. You pay a million dollars in taxes, you get a million votes. How’s that?”
The audience at the Commonwealth Club reacted with laughter. But Perkins offered no immediate indication that he was joking. Asked offstage if the proposal was serious, Perkins said: “I intended to be outrageous, and it was.”

Perkins seemed to be aware that he was courting controversy, saying that his voting proposal would “make you more angry than my letter to the Wall Street Journal.”
That letter, published last month, compared the supposed assault on the wealthy to a wave of Nazi attacks on Jews ahead of the Holocaust.
The letter sparked a public firestorm, and the venture capital firm he co-founded — Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers — distanced itself from his comments. Perkins has since allowed that the comparison went too far, but has not apologized for the overall message and his warning about anti-rich “radicalism.”

Perkins: ‘Extreme’ taxes is persecution
The Perkins plan for determining who should be allowed to vote is likely to give his critics further ammunition.
For his part, Perkins shows no signs of backing down from his argument that the rich in America are under attack. Perkins said Thursday that the trend has grown since the election of President Obama — who he described as an “amateur.”
Pressed for examples of how the rich were being demonized, Perkins said that he feared higher taxes.
“The fear is wealth tax, higher taxes, higher death taxes — just more taxes until there is no more 1%. And that that will creep down to the 5% and then the 10%,” he said.
First Published: February 14, 2014: 1:41 AM ET
by Taboola
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“One function of the income gap is that the people at the top of the heap have a hard time even seeing those at the bottom. They practically need a telescope. The pharaohs of ancient Egypt probably didn’t waste a lot of time thinking about the people who built their pyramids, either. OK, so it’s not that bad yet — but it’s getting that bad.” –Molly Ivins
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Billionaire CEO to 99 Percent: Stop Whining, You’d Be The One Percent In India
By Susie Madrak February 13, 2014 6:56 am
Is it time to roll out the tumbrels yet?
Oh, how they whine. “We’re job creators,” “we already pay too many taxes,” “YOU TAXED MY YACHTMAKER.” Whine, whine, whine. This is why I have such a firm conviction that Carl Jung is a genius. I have never seen such projection in my life as when the obscenely wealthy lecture the “undeserving” poor.
CEO Bud Konheim (Philips Exeter Academy ’53, Darmouth grad) was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple:
The island reminded Konheim of his family home in New England. He was born during the Depression, though his family was comfortably situated.
“We had a 23-room house on a few acres of land in the suburbs on the south shore of Long Island,” Bud explained. “But the Depression wasn’t just an economy; it was a mentality. I was born in 1935, and things really didn’t start turning around until after the War. You just didn’t flaunt your status. It was considered tasteless and offensive. There was no keeping up with the Joneses back then.”
This was brought home to him as a teen when he started becoming interested in cars.
“I went home from school one day and asked my parents why we didn’t have a Cadillac. The looks on their faces!” Konheim chuckled. “What would people think? We had three cars and a chauffer, but the cars were Plymouths. A Cadillac was too much.”
Oh, and this:
In 1962, Konheim joined a company that his father started. His mother had founded her own women’s wear company in 1955, and in 1970 she began running his father’s company as well. When his mother retired in 1975, Konheim took over. That year, he made a life-changing decision by hiring a designer named Nicole Miller. Seven years later, he and Miller began the fashion company that bears her name.
Bud, you don’t know how bad it is out here. You really don’t. For instance, when I saw this video, my first thought was, “That yellow pullover makes him really easy to pick out of a crowd.” That’s how we think now, those are the times. You’re just too dumb to realize it.
Because lording it over the working poor, believe it or not, is still considered tasteless and offensive, you preening jackass. Take some of your billions and buy a fucking clue.

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About l. l. frederick

I'm pretty ordinary, so I find any number of things in the world interesting, among them: books, music, flowers, food, social justice, politics and (sometimes!) people. As for my writing, I've decided that I can be subtle and tasteful when our only problems are esthetic ones. Or when I'm dead, whichever comes first. In the meantime, read at your own risk.

2 Responses to Root for the Overdog!

True, but there could be a problem with that. Stuart, how many people actually HAVE pitchforks these days? I garden, so I do have heavy spading forks, but most of us are city folk, not farmers. And they no longer pave streets with those handy cobblestones either. We’ll have to improvise. Let’s hope outrage and lack of options are at least the midwives of invention. Thanks for your comment. – Linda